Renovations JosefMick Slash
by Emerald72
Summary: Mick is forced to face the past when Beth unintentionally hears a message on their answering machine, meant only for him...Josef/Mick Slash


Title: Renovations

Pairing(s): Josef/Mick, Mick/Beth

Rating: PG13 to Low Level R

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Mick is forced to face the past when Beth unintentionally hears a message on their answering machine, meant only for him...

Written for the Moonlight VampSisters Messageboard, One Year Anniversary Celebrations. Also inspired (although not officially written for) a Fic Prompt on smallfandomfest Live Journal.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Happy Anniversary, Mick."

Beth pressed the rewind button, and played the message again. No, she hadn't been imagining things. That was definitely Josef's voice, wishing Mick a "Happy Anniversary".

The question now, was why? It wasn't their anniversary, not hers and Mick's. Beth drummed her fingers against her lips, the innate reporter in her mentally running through a checklist of possibilities, and discounting each one in turn.

Then it dawned on her. Anniversary, wedding, Mick's wedding night, Mick's turning. Of course, it all made perfect sense. Mick never had revealed the exact date of certain events of the past to her. And this would explain why, every year on this very day, for the past five years she had shared with Mick, Mick has always been distant, and withdrawn. As if he were struggling with the memory of something he was trying desperately to forget, but never could.

Beth imagined the shame Mick must feel, all those dark memories resurrected. Today was the day Mick thought he had been made monster. No wonder today, of all days, always engendered such a well of emotions within him. Beth had always sensed that, now she thought she finally knew the reason why.

She had to do something for him, something special. Something that would let Mick know that none of the past mattered, not to her. It was the present, what they shared together in the here and now that was important. Mick had never been a monster, not in her eyes.

Beth's mind made up, she set about her self-appointed task.

"What's all this in aid of then?" Mick cast a puzzled eye over the elaborate spread laid out in front of him, and then began running through a mental checklist of his own. What had he forgotten, or done wrong? He ran through the possibilities, and prepared what he hoped was a suitable apology for each one.

"Sit down." Beth patted the space on the picnic rug next to her, and tried to offer Mick the most encouraging smile she could muster.

Mick hesitated; brow furrowed with uncertainty for a moment, and then took a seat where Beth had indicated he should. Resting his back against the sofa behind him, he placed an affectionate hand on Beth's knee, and reworded his previous question.

"So are you going to tell me what the occasion is?"

"In a minute," Beth busied herself pouring blood into a crystal goblet, "Here," she handed the goblet to Mick, looking decidedly pleased with herself as she did so, "I called in a favour from a contact at the blood bank."

Mick took a sip of the syrupy, crimson liquid and almost spat it back into the glass. It was child's blood, a rare treat for him to even taste, let alone drink an entire glass of.

"Ok, Beth," now Mick was certain he'd done something wrong, and this was Beth's way of making him feel guilty, "You've got child's blood for me, you've dragged out our best crystal, the candles, the flowers, the whole romantic décor thing you've got going on here. I think it's time you told me exactly what this is all about."

Mick braced himself as he waited for the axe to fall.

"Mick," Beth waited for Mick to finish the last few mouthfuls of her offering, and then gently took the glass from him. Holding his hands in hers, she took a breath, and continued on, "I know how hard today must be for you, I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you, to feel as if you'd lost something that was so dear to you. I just wanted to show you that today doesn't have to be a sad occasion, not anymore."

"Beth, what are you…?"

"…I heard the message on the answering machine, the one from Josef, wishing you a Happy Anniversary…"

The room spun. Mick's blood fueled heart, skipped several beats.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Beth's voice, imploring yet gentle, bought Mick back to earth, "I would have understood."

"What, about me and Josef?" Mick snorted an incredulous laugh, and then rushed ahead, before Beth had a chance to speak further. The words tumbling out over one another in a tangled mess of consonants and vowels, "Beth, I'm sorry I know I should have told you, but it was a long time ago, before you and I even met, again. It ended, what was I supposed to have done, introduced Josef to you as, 'Oh by the way this is my best friend, he's also my ex'?"

"Mick," Beth stared, wide eyed, and dumbfounded at what she had just heard, "what on earth on are you talking about?"

"Why," Mick looked panicked, "what were you talking about?"

"Your Anniversary," Beth gave Mick a pointed look. "Your _Wedding_ Anniversary, you know, the day you were turned into a Vampire. I thought it was today."

"Oh shit." Mick buried his face in the palm of his hand, and wished for the ground to swallow him whole.

"You and Josef?" Beth waited for Mick's eyes to reluctantly meet hers, and stared at him disbelief.

"Yeah," Mick's expression fell part way between sheepish and candid, "me and Josef, who would've…"

Mick didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Beth hurried on unabated, talking more to herself as she forced a quick laugh and tried to wave a dismissive hand,

"…Ok, Josef I can understand, I mean I've never met a totally straight man who can accessorise a suit quite _that_ well…"

"…Beth, Josef's not gay." Mick tried to interject some sense into the conversation then. Beth was hearing none of it.

"But you, I just can't imagine…You, and Josef? Well, ok, I suppose Josef can be pretty persuasive sometimes, it must have been hard for you to…"

"Beth," Mick's voice, sharp and clear, cut through Beth's rambling attempt at justification, "it wasn't like that."

"Oh," Beth's tone shifted to a note of challenge, "then how was it then?"

"After Coraline…" Mick paused, trying to pick his words carefully, "After Coraline, Josef sort of looked after me, protected me, made sure I was ok. We just sort of …fell in love, I guess."

"You were in love?" Beth looked as much surprised then, as she had at Mick's initial revelation. She had been imagining all manner of scenarios involving seduction, and the irresistible allure of an older Vampire to a younger. The idea that Mick might have willingly fallen in love with Josef, Beth hadn't factored into the equation.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you all of this, I know," Mick repeated his earlier placation, "I just…it's in the past."

As if the past didn't matter.

"So how long were you together for?" The reporter in Beth took over. Now she was on a fact finding mission.

"Almost twenty years."

Beth hadn't been expecting that. It took her a moment to find her equilibrium.

"Wow, that's...a long time." Beth furrowed her brow, and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, planning her next line of attack. "So, that means, you were…?"

Mick pre-empted Beth's question. "We got together about a year after Coraline. We broke up about six months before I met you again, at the fountain."

Beth smiled in fond remembrance of that evening, and then she was donning her reporters cap once more.

"Why?"

The question was stunning in its simplicity, and for a moment Mick didn't know how he was going to answer.

"Why did we break up?" He decided to try a brief delay tactic instead, asking for clarification he didn't really need.

"Yeah, exactly, why did you break up? If you were so in love after almost twenty years," Beth practically scoffed those words. "Then why the sudden separation?"

"I guess we just figured we were better off as friends." Mick tried to look sincere, but Beth had made his measure. He was lying, and she knew it.

For a moment Beth was tempted to call Mick out, to say, "Bullshit", straight to his face and see what sort of response she engendered from him. Instead she swallowed back rising nerves, and asked her next question.

"Did you love Josef then, more than you love me now?" Beth's voice sounded small and thin, pleading for reassurance.

"It was different."

That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.

"Oh yeah, how? Apart from the fact that I don't have a dick between my legs."

For a moment, Mick looked taken aback by Beth's harsh tone. What did she want from him? He'd already been given the, 'don't lie to me Mick St John', look for his previous answer.

Mick could sense Beth's gaze boring into him, willing him to answer, her face a mask of expectation.

"With Josef I had to be the man I am. With you, I get to be the man I want to be."

Mick's answer was simple, and to the point. And the closest thing he had come so far to telling Beth the truth. But things are never that simple. Mick couldn't bring himself to tell Beth the whole story. The longer he had watched over her, the more he had seen her grow from a child into a beautiful, mortal woman, the more he had longed for his own lost humanity. It had driven a wedge between him and Josef, one that had eventually broken them apart.

"You still have feelings for him, don't you?" Beth sounded almost resigned to the fact.

"No," Mick' reply came a little too quick off the mark. He hesitated for a moment, his frustration evident, "Yes, I mean sort of, I mean…I don't know. Look it's complicated, alright."

"Then un-complicate it."

"I can't." Mick's expression fell remorseful then. This time, Beth needed the one thing he couldn't give her, a simple yes or no answer. "Look, Beth," he held up his hands in a placating gesture, "Josef and I were together for almost two decades. That sort of relationship leaves its mark, one that doesn't just go away because you want it to."

"You're still in love with him, aren't you?"

"I love _you._"

"That's not what I asked, Mick."

They had reached an impasse. Beth decided to try a different tact.

"It's obvious Josef's still in love with you though, why leave a message like that otherwise?"

"It's just something he does," it was Mick's turn to attempt a justification, "He gets drunk, rings me up and wishes me a Happy Anniversary, I feel guilty and mope around for a while, and then tomorrow it's a brand new day, and we forget about it…"

"…until the next time. And how's that working for you, Mick?"

"Hey, so it might not be ideal, but it works for us, ok." Mick mounted a defence in response to Beth's challenge, "It's one day out of three hundred and sixty five. The rest of the time it's like nothing ever happened. "

"But something did happen though didn't it, Mick? And you can't just keep pretending otherwise."

Beth was pressing too close to home. One step forward, two steps back. It had begun to feel like they were doing the masochism tango.

"Well what would you have me do about it, Beth?" Mick threw up a frustrated hand, "It's not like I can go back and change the past. Don't you think if it were that easy I would have done so already?"

"No Mick, you can't change the past," Beth stood up then, pointedly smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt, "but you can deal with it in the here and now, and put it to rest, one way or another."

Beth was trying her best to sound pragmatic, but Mick could scent her fear. He knew she was telling him what he needed to do. He needed to have that talk with Josef, the one both of them had been skirting around for so many years. Only part of her was afraid that once that happened, Mick wasn't coming back.

And Mick had to admit, there was a part of him that wasn't sure of that either.

The past still mattered, the past always mattered.

"So to what do I owe this honour then, Mick?"

Josef slumped nonchalantly against the frame of the open doorway. Just as Mick had already surmised, he was staggering drunk. Not just drunk, there was something else, an almost fey look in Josef' eyes.  
_  
__Absinthe._

And knowing Josef it would have been the real deal as well, with Wormwood content potent enough to kill any mortal.

"Then I see Queen Mab hath been with you." Mick laughed, and shook his head. He watched as Josef turned, and sauntered off, pausing only briefly to glance over his shoulder, and check that Mick was following behind.

"Would you like some?" Josef picked up the bottle of pale green liquor, and dangled it between thumb and forefinger. Before flopping elegantly onto the black leather sofa of the entertainment area Mick had just been lead to. "I'm afraid you'll have to take care of the whole pouring ritual yourself though, I'm a little incapacitated at the moment."

_Christ why did everything he say have to sound like an offer of sex. Mick, would you like to pour yourself a glass of Absinthe, Mick would you like me to bend you over the end of this couch and fuck your brains out?_

"Yeah, sure." Mick sat down next to Josef, trying to maintain a respectable _(platonic?)_ distance, and tried to remember how the ritual went. Was the sugar placed in the glass, or rested on top of the spoon? And which way exactly was the spoon supposed to face? Did it matter?

"Give it to me." Josef sat up, seemingly capable now, and tried to affect a furrowed brow look of annoyance at Mick's apparent ineptitude.

Mick watched as Josef went through the centuries old motions, slowly dripping iced water over cubed sugar balanced carefully on slotted spoon, green turning to opaque whiteness.

And then Josef was removing the spoon and dropping another cube of sugar into that opaqueness.

"She is the fairies' midwife," Josef drew the absinthe soaked cube from the glass, and leant in close, rubbing the sweetness across Mick's lips, "and she comes in a shape no bigger than an agate stone, drawn by a team of little atomies, athwart men's noses as they lie asleep."

It wasn't part of the usual manner in which one partook of the green fairy, and even for Josef it was a touch too far south of the Shakespearean border, but it had the desired effect. He knew part of his appeal with Mick lay in his age, what was it Mick had referred to him as once, 'history'? So what if technically he hadn't actually been around during the Bard's time. Josef still knew exactly which buttons to press in order to get Mick's heart racing, and the blood flow diverting straight to his cock.

"Drink up." Josef laughed and poured the glass of Absinthe down Mick's throat, sealing in the taste of herbs, and aniseed, with his lips. Josef broke the kiss shortly after, and pressed his forehead to Mick's.

"I miss you."

"I know."

Words were superseded by actions then. Fingers fumbled urgently with buttons, and zippers, lips, and tongues sought heated contact. And then they were on the floor. Josef's weight shifted on top of Mick's, needing to slow things down, penetration being facilitated only by a hurried mix of saliva and pre-come.

Even after so many years, they still fit together so well…in more ways than one.

Mick groaned, and arched into the sensation as his body fell into rhythm with Josef's. He had missed this, missed Josef, missed the surety of his touched. Missed, and longed for what they once had.

But longing for something and accepting it were two very different streams of consciousness. Half way through crossing, Mick had found himself stuck somewhere in the middle of the flow.

And then they were both being swept along by a tidal wave of pleasure. Strings of expletives and vocalisations of mutual release being offered up, and fangs sinking into flesh as they each rode out the crest.

"Fuck."

Mick let out a breath he hadn't needed to draw. Words were extraneous at that moment. The next few moments were spent in mutually agreed silence, Josef already withdrawn from Mick's space, lying alongside. Limbs draped over Mick's body, and head resting in the crook of Mick's shoulder.

"So when are you returning home?" Josef broke the silence.

The question sounded simple enough. Josef knew of Mick's plan to return to Los Angeles with Beth. The three of them had been living in Pittsburgh for the past four years, Josef having moved there shortly after Mick's announcement that he and Beth had finally 'sealed the deal', and were officially declaring themselves couple, and Mick having followed on shortly thereafter, courtesy of a transfer of job location for Beth. In one of those mysteries of life curveballs that get thrown every now and then.

With Josef though, things were never that simple. Mick understood what Josef was really asking him. They'd never really needed detailed explanations from one another.

"I don't know," Mick stroked an absentminded hand along the back of Josef's neck, "I think the house might need some renovations, maybe work on a few things around the place that need fixing, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Josef nodded his understanding, and then disengaged himself from Mick's embrace. "You should probably go home to Beth, start planning those renovations you need to make. I hear that sort of thing can take a while, best get a head start."

Josef cocked his head, and arched a pointed eyebrow, mouth drawn into a grin. And with that he had just expressed his acceptance of the situation.

Mick wondered what Beth would have made of their conversation. He expected she had visions of some long, and drawn out, deep and meaningful. Souls laid bare, tears shed. Instead they had drunk, and they had fucked, and in a brief exchange of metaphors, they had reached an understanding.

With Josef things didn't need to be complicated. Except for those renovations Mick needed to work on. For the time being at least, they were a work in progress.

Redressed, they stood together in the doorway, and said their respective goodbyes. Snatches of a song from a passing car drifted towards them.  
_  
__It's alright, baby's coming back…and I don't really care where he's been. __  
_  
The irony of the moment wasn't lost on either of them.

The book was closed then, the final chapter left unwritten. But at least now, they both knew how the story would end.


End file.
